Do people really hate Country Music?

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I do believe that for passionate musicians/music fans music IS a big part of their identity, for me it's huge to have something to identify with as thats very hard for me to come by in life. For others its just something to lift their mood, something to work out to, or something to dance to. For some it's gotta be intense, for others very lighthearted. Often what you are looking to get out of it draws you toward certain style(s). I happen to have an extraordinarily narrow taste in music. I like what I like and other things just dont appeal to me, and many are borderline painful for me to tolerate. But music is a personal experience. Sure, you can compare technical instrumental skill, composition, vocal talent, lyrical composition in terms of degree of difficulty, but thats a small or even non-existent part of the musical experience for most genres.

I personally have zero desire to appreciate other forms of music. I've heard almost every genre, as my wife listens to everything (literally from kids music, to oldies, rap, pop, metal, punk, 80's synth pop, but very very little if any country strangely enough) and if something grabs me I'll investigate. But otherwise it's all something I have no interest in at all. Ill spend hours digesting new bands in all various sub-genres of metal, but other stuff I just cant personally get into. Though I do greatly enjoy metal bands that smash other genres in there too. I love the chaotic and on-the-surface disjointedness of it all.

However I respect some forms more than others on the basis of my personal definition of creativity. I also don't have alot of respect for exceedingly simple music. But I respect anyone right to like whatever the hell they damn well please, and I will do the same. Just dont try to tell me that your music is "better" than mine, especially when your music is country, because you simply dont have an argument in my opinion.

...Again , persoanl taste . Fair enough .
In your second to last sentence , I assume you meant to write > " I don't see why people don't DISLIKE Pop music " , or similar .
If that is so , the omission of one word DRASICALLY changed the meaning of the sentence as publlsihed/posted ! !! !! !! !! !!
I've been trying to come up with a phrase for this (Like , " Your Honor , I am guilty " is LOADS different from " Your Honor , I am NOT guilty " ! )


rvacountrysinger"]

Isn't Rock n' Roll blue collar? Also, a lot of Pop music is very sleazy.
I don't associate Country as being blue collar necessarily. To me its just a style of music that I love.
I was raised in an Upper Middle class family and we all are big Country Music Fans. To me Country Music is more wholesome music that seems more innocent and people who dress up more and go to church. That is Country Music to me.

I think Johnny Cash is terrible. But there are so many great Country artists. I like early 90s Country the best because I was 12 years old in 1991 and we got cable TV and Country Music Television. I feel like today's Country Music is far too commercialized. The lyrics are lacking. But I don't care if its considered right wing- I am a Conservative myself, but politics have nothing to do with good songs. I just like the way Country music is performed when its done right.

I just don't like indie Rock or any of that type of music because its trying too hard and lacking in personality. The Beatles are horrid! Pop Rock is very bland to me. But I can't really tell the difference between Today's Country and Pop Music. I don't see why people don't like Pop music. Its worse than the bad Country.[/quote]

...I will say this , a lot of mainstream (at any given time)/what is on the BILLBOARD country charts country music tends to , in fact , reflect the general-audience pop music of an earlier time ! !! !! !!
Country music has a tendency to reflect the pop music of , say , twenty to forty years previous , styles from it , songs from it , pop artists from an earlier era " going country " later in their career !


rvacountrysinger"]

Ok. But honestly Country Music is the only music I truly feel passionate about. If there were a Country artist- especially an obscure one coming to a venue in my home town, its the only one I would be excited about seeing. Since I don't go to live shows much anyways. I just don't understand why anyone would make such ridiculous statements as I listen to anything but Country. Because Country Music influences many other genres.[/quote]

...How do you find the Beatles " blasphemous " ?




ote="marcb0t"]

You know, I agree with your opinion on modern pop rock and indie junk. 80's, I think sounded better musically, but the lyrical content was still shallow, and sleazy. All this lovey dovey garbage that never really drew me to the music anyway.

The Beatles, musically were pretty good, but they were blasphemous, so I scratched them off my list.

I don't enjoy country music in general. And I agree that the modern stuff is just really bad.

There's just too much twanginess, and styles that I don't connect with.

I could see myself developing an appreciation for older country styles, but simply lack interest at this time.

There is a hymnal album from Alan Jackson. It was definitely country in style, but I thought it was tasteful and actually enjoyed it to some extent.

I still prefer Christian jazz, though. I'm such a city slicker

I think it's because you grew up with country that it resonates so well with you. I would not consider it an inferior style per se. Just that I grew up with jazz and 80's stuff, so that's what resonates well with me. I relate to it on a very emotional and surreal level. Probably like you do with country.

That's why I don't criticize your taste. Because I think we're a lot more alike than may seem at first glance. I respect your taste and frame of reference.

I'm even more alone than you because I like chiptune music. 99.9% of society would think I'm just an 80's kid who never grew up (they're probably right) and that it's inferior because it sounds like Mario music. It actually gets every bit as complex as jazz and classical if not more so. Simply because of channel limitations, rapid arpeggios to make chords, and very creative interlacing between channels on some chip sets.

You can make almost any genre with chiptunes, including jazz and Country music. So chiptunes is more of a timbral ascetic rather than a genre in a lot of cases.

As least most people will think your tastes are fairly normal and acceptable.[/quote]

...By " showtunes "(A phrase I have some problems with , but perhaps that's just me .) do you mean , aside from actual recordings of the songs from musicals ~
What I tend to call " traditional pop " (in an American sense ~ For the most famous and the most famous old-era still living examples , Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett ?
Also Ella Fitzgerald , Dinah Washington , Rosemary Clooney and suchlike .
Also , somewhat less jazz-influenced singers , such as , oh Jerry Vale , or the Four Aces ? (There tends to be some overlap between this style and the more " poppish " country music , especially in the Seventies and Eighties .)
Cabaret/musical-theater-style singers , too .
There's the sort of kind-of " easy listening " music ~ Ray Conniff , Andre Kostelantz , Billy Vaughn...and the more exotic/uptempo that got pushed/rebranded as " Space Age Bachelor Pad Music/Easy " in the 90s , Esquivel and such as that .
All this is a little of another era (However , there's more modern artists ~ Harry Conick , Jr. , Diana Krall ~ falling into this , as well .) , admittedly !






"Skibz888"]

I can't blame people for generalizing. It's not like someone's going to say "Oh, I listen to everything but rap and country and Zydeco and blackened death metal and progressive bluegrass and electrocore and goregrind and post-disco and third-wave ska and Gregorian chant and...".

After all, in the broadest sense, you can really split all music into about a dozen categories. Go into any major retailer and you'll always see it split up the same way: rock, pop (or "rock/pop"), country, jazz, blues, classical, folk, rap, new age, international and showtunes (and occasionally "electronic", while sometimes reggae and Latin are separated from "international").

Country and rap are really the only categories which significantly bleed over into rock and pop (i.e. "the mainstream"), so that's the only reason why people would specific "rap and country" as being excluded from their pop and rock-oriented musical taste.[/quote]

Well, there are two things at least.

1. John mentioned in an article from 1964 that they [The Beatles] are bigger than Jesus. I have not read where any of the other members of his band confronted him on this at best sacrilegious statement.

2. John produced the song "Imagine" in 1971 which is essentially encouraging people to imagine world peace at the expense of the existence of God. It is at best an anti-Christian, and irreligious message that comes off as blasphemous to me. The first time I heard that song, it really broke my heart.

Please understand that I am merely answering your question about how I find the Beatles blasphemous. There are many more quotes and things I've read about them, but these 2 things stand out in particular.

In the free world I think music taste all comes down to basic consumer rights. Just because something is made and marketed doesn't mean we have to buy it. I do not ever purchase single-serve bottled water, styrofoam cups, Kleenex, business suits, fresh flowers, or "oscillating" fans simply because I don't want those items in my household as there are much better alternatives for me. The same goes for today's country music, along with rap, hiphop, contemporary Christian, and so forth. I'm simply exercising my rights as a paying citizen not to include those styles in MY lifestyle. Dissing entire genres of music does not make anyone a bad person. (Neither does my refusal to watch fictitious violence in action and horror movies.) Of course, I'm sure I would have extremely few friends in modern Hollywood and recording studio scenes.

FWIW, in the mid-1960's the Beatles were indeed "bigger" than Jesus with the younger crowd. Maybe Lennon's words could be controversial, but they were spot-on for that particular time, as the youth were purchasing way more Beatle albums than Bibles. I can't see any possible context where any Beatle suggested the band should be "better" than a Deity, or that the group's listeners were bragging about ditching their faiths for the music the band was recording and releasing. As for the message in "Imagine", I always felt it was only a call for everyone to treat each other as IF there was no Heaven or anything on "the other side", in essence a supposition rather than a teaching of denial. As much as I've listened to the song, I've never started doubting the "afterlife".

I like older country a lot more than this new stuff. That new stuff bugs the crap out of me.

I'm just going to come out and say that I've always hated country music. I mean I will literally get nauseated if I hear any sort of country music blaring out of speakers. It's not the politics of the music (ironic, because I'm more right-leaning in my own political views). It's just I don't find any of the lyrics, melodies, themes, etc. very interesting. I'd rather hear about rocking and rolling all night more than saving horses and riding cowboys.

I say to each his own. I don't like country or rap but it's ok if other people like it.

Y'know what you get when you cross country with rap?

Answer: crap.

I like some country music, actually. Though I'm not really a big fan of it.

Ha! Good one!

I think of country music as "redneck oppression music" to be honest.

Thanks.